Past Seasons

Black Swan State Theatre Company

Perth Theatre Design: Sounds of The Vibrator Play

In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play is set in the dawn of the electrical age, circa 1800s. The play's Composer & Sound Designer, Ash Gibson Greig, was inspired by the period's pioneering instruments and has incorporated some very authentic sounds into the soundscape. Ash is a Black Swan regular - his work includes Once in Royal David's City, Angels in America, The Red Balloon, Blithe Spirit and many more!

A NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER

It’s remarkable that so soon after the advent of electricity in the home, the electric vibrator came into use. To Jeffrey and I the connection between the electric vibrator and the vibration of sound waves produced electronically (or “synthetically”) was immediately apparent. But how could it be apt for this play?

To my great surprise I discovered that the first synthesizer, The Musical Telegraph, was invented in 1876. Suddenly the idea seemed plausible. But what did this synthesizer sound like? I couldn’t find any mention of recordings online. Then I discovered, incredibly, that there is an emulation of Thaddeus Cahill’s 1897 Telharmonium synthesizer available for purchase – an instrument inspired by the Musical Telegraph. And rather than the 200 tonnes of its predecessor, it barely weighed 200 grams.Thus, my journey into a different type of synthesis with the “Telharmonic” began.

The music in this play is a dialogue between the acoustic and the electronic; the piano and cello representing the old yet intimately personal, the synthesizer the new and exciting. Every single synthesized sound in the score was created by modifying the sounds of the Telharmonic with controlled voltages - electric current - in a modular system. In fact, I created the sounds of the vibrators in the show in the same way, thus unifying the concept of electrically produced vibrating sound waves exciting our ears, with electrical vibrations inducing paroxysms in the “hysterical” patients. I hope you enjoy the results!